Hall of Fame Cubs

Later today a new Hall of Fame class will be announced, and it won't include a Cub. These guys are already in there...(You can read about all of them in my EVERY CUB EVER feature at Just One Bad Century.)

Amy Landecker on Good Day LA

Listen for the Boogie Check reference (and a tip of the cap to her old dad, John Records Landecker). Amy doesn't know the answer about the origin of Boogie Check, but the readers of "Records Truly Is My Middle Name" surely do. So happy for Amy and her continued success...

PD at the Drive resigns

Curtiss Johnson has resigned as the PD at the Drive (97.1 FM) after only 18 months on the job. Robert Feder printed his e-mail to the staff...

After many long conversations with Greg regarding the future of The Drive the decision has been made to part company. I’ve enjoyed my year and half here at The Drive. I’ve never worked with a nicer and more genuinely talented group of people. I will come away from the experience with many true friends, not just friends in the business. It has a been a pleasure. Thank you.

I will remain the day to day program director in the near term while a search is conducted for both my replacement and my next career opportunity.

Curtiss

Should be interesting to see what's in store for the next PD, and what direction Greg Solk is planning on taking the station. He's the one that calls the shots there. Will it become more sports-oriented (recent hires like Pete McMurray, Danny McNeil, and Mike North indicate it might be), or was this a dispute about musical direction or staffing?

10 Years of Blogging: The Roy Leonard interview

This year I'll re-posting some of the most popular blog posts from my decade of blogging. This one was a real thrill for me: interviewing WGN Radio great Roy Leonard. When I posted it in 2010 and sent him a link, he replied..."You didn't have to post the whole thing. Nobody is that interesting!" Wrong, Roy. You were. Sadly, Roy Leonard passed away in 2014.

Roy Leonard was a fixture at WGN Radio for more than 30 years (1967-1998)





Rick: I was surprised to see that it’s already been almost twelve years since you signed off as a full-time host at WGN. Do you miss it?

Roy: In all honesty, no. I had a wonderful time doing it, but in the late 90s I wasn’t really pleased with the way radio was going. I was never controversial, and didn’t enjoy controversy. There were a few times I canceled interviews with authors, because I read the book and thought, oh no, I don’t want to talk about that. I thought the book was terrible.

The business of radio had also changed and was moving in a new direction. I joined AFTRA in 1954, so I called AFTRA headquarters in NY and asked what the pension was, and they told me, and I said to my wife, why am I working? It’s a generous pension. I could actually afford to retire. I didn’t have to do stuff I didn’t want to do anymore. I still fill in occasionally. And still do commercial work. But I don’t miss the drudgery of doing it every day. I like being my own boss.

Rick: I’ll confess that I was a long-time listener of your show, from a very early age. The radio was always on in my house, and it was always tuned to WGN. Of all those classic WGN hosts, I think you managed to change with the times most successfully. You were always tuned in to what was happening, in Chicago, in pop culture, in politics, through the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. How did you do it?

Roy: Two things. First of all, my children. I have six sons. There were at least 4 different radios on in our house, listening to all sorts of different stations. One loved WXRT. Another one was a big Dahl & Meier fan. I heard my kid’s music, and I heard what they were talking about. Although, as an aside, they wanted to hear what I was into too—my music. My youngest son was a Dead fan and enjoyed Steve and Garry, and one day he came up to me and asked if he could listen to my old records—and I said sure. I still remember how excited he was when he discovered Billy Holiday. I guess my house was always liberal in that sense. My kids could listen to or read anything they wanted.

The other thing that kept me current was when I got my first radio producer, Peter Marino. There’s a story at Royleonard.com about him. He was much younger than me, young enough to be my son. And one day he came up to me and said it was time to get rid of the Ray Conniff records. He was the one that turned me on to a lot of things I might have otherwise missed. To tell you the truth, I’m not a nostalgia buff. I’d rather enjoy what is going on now than listen to those old boring Andrew Sisters records. I’ll be 80 at my next birthday, but I don’t like to bring that up, because most of my 80-year-old friends are boring as heck. (laughs)

Rick: You also weren’t afraid to talk about your family life on the radio, which made you a three dimensional figure to your listeners. When I mentioned to my mom that I was interviewing you this week, she immediately ticked off the number of children you had, that all of their names started with the same letter, your wife’s name, and that you supported soccer (which was important to her). To her, you were a part of the family. Did that sort of attention ever cause any problems with your actual family?

Roy: Before I came to Chicago I used to have the family on with me at my radio station in Boston around Christmas time. They would come into the studio, and they got a big kick out it. We did the same thing in Chicago after I started at WGN. (Photo: Roy and the family, Christmas 1973) Then one day one of the boys, who was in New Trier at the time, said ‘Do you mind if we don’t do this anymore?’ He was getting kidded about it at school—so we stopped. But every time I talked about them, you’re right, the listeners really liked that I would share my family stories. I was proud of them. Sheila didn’t mind. So we fell into a routine.

Rick: I think the best way to describe your style on the air is “friendly.” For some reason, that’s a rare commodity on the radio these days. Confrontation and controversy have become the norm. Why do you think that is, and are there any shows out there now in your opinion, that carry on in that Roy Leonard tradition?

Roy: I happen to like the new WGN morning guy Greg Jarrett. (Rick's note 2016: Jarrett was released as morning man and replaced by Jonathon Brandmeier after this interview was posted. Brandmeier has since been replaced by Steve Cochran.) I get mail from people that don’t like him, but I really do. I think he is an intelligent guy, has a wealth of experience, and I like that he shares some of those stories. Some people think he’s talking about himself too much—I disagree. I also like that he doesn’t always try to be funny. Steve Cochran is very bright and is a really talented host, but sometimes I really think he tries too hard to be funny.

As for the controversy and confrontation, the world of the computer has changed things immensely. Everyone has an outlet, a way of venting their frustrations. I was listening to Dave Kaplan the other night. He was on after the ballgame and the Cub fans were ranting and raving about the team. They just wanted to let off steam. That sort of thing has spread. I don’t know why. It just has. Why did rock and roll radio take over in the 60s? People were looking for change.

In 1967 my station in Boston went rock and roll. They were a WGN-type station before that, #3 in the market, but they wanted to be #1. And that’s what they became. They were #1 in seven months. They asked me to stay on, but I didn’t want to be a rock and roll disc jockey. I liked the music, but I didn’t want to play it on the radio. One of my best friends was Curt Gowdy, he was a neighbor, and I asked him if he knew anyone that would hire me. He called his buddy in New York, and it turned out that he repped WGN.

At the time, WGN had marvelous ratings in the afternoon because of Cubs baseball, but after the season ended, they got no numbers. So, I bought three Chicago newspapers, The Trib, Sun-Times, and The American, went through them, and made a tape of what I thought my show would sound like in Chicago. They liked the tape, and Wally was taking some time off, so they paid me to fill in for him, and that Friday after filling in for a week, they asked me to work for them in the afternoon slot, 1 to 4 PM. I had been getting up at 3 in the morning, so I said, that’s great! But, my family was in Boston, and I have six kids, and I couldn’t just pack up and leave. So they agreed to fly me home to Boston when the Cubs were in town that summer of 1967. That made the move a little easier. We were able to sell our house and move out here before school in the fall.

As for my style of radio, you’re right, nobody is really doing that kind of show right now, but then again they weren’t doing it before I got here either. I listened to Chicago radio as much as I could (Howard Miller, etc.) when I first came to town. I tried to find what nobody was doing, and make that my own. Nobody was talking about theatre or film at the time, and I enjoyed both immensely, so when I first started, that’s what I talked about.

I remember Aaron Gold was representing the Ivanhoe, and he heard me talking about theater, so he asked me to come out and see their latest show. And that’s when I started getting these great guests.

Marcel Marceau (photo) was one of my first guests—and we really hit it off. Ironically, he wouldn’t shut up (laughs). We even had him out to the house. That’s one thing I never really talked about on the air—that I spent a lot of time with some of these people off the air—many of them came out to the house. I remember another time we had Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits over. He ended up in the bedroom upstairs playing guitar with my boys.

Rick: I’ve interviewed quite a few of your former colleagues and many of them mentioned you as a sort of mentor. Max Armstrong called you “a class act.” Spike O’Dell said you were a “consummate pro”. Dean Richards said he developed his sense of broadcast responsibility from you and your contemporaries. All of them modeled themselves after you in a way. Who served that mentor role for you? Who did you pattern yourself after?

Roy: The only one that immediately comes to mind is Arthur Godfrey (photo). I remember listening to his radio show out of Washington, and I thought this man does a commercial that doesn’t sound like a commercial. I emulated that from Godfrey. Edward R. Murrow. He was so classy, so professional, in the way he reported the news. There was one personality in Boston, his name wouldn’t mean anything here, but he had an evening music show—and he would time out the lip of every bit of music he played. I thought that was great. I stole that—tried to do that. But those are only ones that really come to mind. Nobody has ever asked me that before.

Rick: Here’s another one I’m guessing no-one has asked. I see that you were stationed in Nome Alaska in the Air Force, and worked at the radio station up there.

Roy: That’s true. Here’s a story I don’t think I’ve ever told publicly. I never met my father until I was in the service. He deserted our family when I was 2, and to be honest, I was pretty pissed at him. He had written a few times and he was a Marine and ran a construction business. I knew of him and knew what he was, but that’s about it.

I was stationed at Sampson Air Force base in New York, and I heard that they were looking for guys to go to Alaska, because the natives, the Eskimos, were all listening to Radio Moscow—and everyone was afraid they would be too influenced by that. They sent an Army building crew up there to build a radio station—and the Air Force staffed it. I was one of the staffers. I did the all-night show. And I really enjoyed it.

And that’s where I met my father...in Alaska. We got along, but I think he was trying to make up for lost time, and it didn’t really work. We went out to dinner a few times. He was a hunter, and we went moose and bear hunting. I’m glad we didn’t actually find any. I must admit, I was not the greatest GI in the world. I paid this kid to clean my rifle. I couldn’t stand it. We really almost lived the civilian life up there because it was so remote. I don’t think I put a uniform on more than once or twice. I probably shouldn’t admit that—but oh well—I guess the statute of limitations has expired by now.

Rick: I think what you are remembered for the most are your interviews. The Roy Leonard interview is still the gold standard of radio interviews. You did hundreds of them over the years. I found references to a few of them that I’d love to hear more about. Did you really interview John F. Kennedy?

Roy: Yes. Back in Boston, I had a Sunday afternoon television show called The Yankee Camera. We carried the NY Giants football games, so we never knew how long the show was going to be, because it followed the game. There were times it was just a few minutes, and then there were times when we knew we had at least a half hour. Just before the New Hampshire primaries, Kennedy was running for president, and he came on the show. By the way, I don’t have a video or audio of that, we didn’t keep video records in those days. It’s a shame. It was a great interview—he was very warm, very friendly.

To show you how politically savvy that family was, Kennedy shook the hands of everyone there—everyone in the booth, everyone at the station. Then, when I got back to my office, the phone rang. I was told there was a call from Ambassador Joe Kennedy. He said “Roy, I just want to thank you for being so nice to my son.” I met him a year or two later and he remembered me.

Rick: I’m just going to mention a few more names of people you interviewed, and if you don’t mind, please tell me your memories and impressions of them too.

Roy: Sure.

Rick: Ronald Reagan

Roy: He was President of Screen Actors Guild at the time—somewhere in the early to mid-50s. I can’t remember what the interview was about to be totally honest with you. All I remember is that I found him politically savvy. His fellow actors were a little worried at the time, wondering if he was the right man for the job—he wasn’t totally accepted by the other Guild members yet. But he was successful at persuading them—and I do remember that we got into a discussion of politics and I was very impressed with him—I was surprised he was as knowledgeable as he was. I liked him very much. I never voted for him (laughs), but I was impressed by him.

Rick: George Harrison

Roy: He came to Chicago on a tour in the mid-70s and he was just in to plug the new album. I found him to be very warm, friendly, smart, bright, and fun.

Rick: John Belushi

Roy: I was on one of those junkets, I think that Belushi and Ackroyd had just done “Neighbors,” and so I was interviewing both of them. It’s really not that difficult to make a personal connection with someone, if you share an interest, and with John all I had to do was mention I was from Chicago—and he opened right up. And then when I mentioned Second City—and my love for it—that was all he needed to hear. My son, by the way, is now the VP at Second City.

Rick: Jimmy Stewart

Roy: He came in to promote his book of poetry. I have a tape of that somewhere. We’re eventually going to be putting up some of these interviews at my website (RoyLeonard.com)—so thanks for bringing that one up. I have to go look for it. I found him to be exactly like I expected him to be. Down to Earth—not overawed by the adulation—nice guy. Genuine guy. Just as you would imagine him. I liked his poetry very much too.

Rick: Mel Brooks

Roy: I can’t remember why he was in town, but he agreed to do two full hours with me. A lot of his stuff was on record at the time, and we did a lot of prep—my producer and I, we had bits from his movies, music from the soundtracks, you name it. Mel was impressed that it was something more than just a conversation. He was also absolutely hilarious. I’ll never forget his last line of the interview. He said: “Roy, do you always do your show in your underwear?”

I got to know him a little bit over the years, spent some time with him, went to his office in Hollywood—kibitzed with him. When The Producers came to Chicago, I ran into him on opening night, and he remembered me, and we spent some time with him.

I don’t know if you remember, but we used to take tours of listeners around the world to various different places, and one time we took a group to Italy. We were in a village in Northern Italy, and we pulled up to the hotel with our coach, and I went to the front door, and Mel was there. He said “ROY!” I said “MEL!” He was just hanging out at the hotel while his wife (Anne Bancroft) was filming a movie. Mel came on the bus and entertained us all.

Rick: That’s incredible.

Roy: If you make personal contact, people remember you. Burt Reynolds was one of those guys too. I met him, and we hit it off, but he had never come to Chicago. Well, one time he finally did come to town, but I was out of town. My producer called me in St. Louis, and said ‘Burt really wants to be on the show. He said he’ll stay over until you come back.’ And he did. These are some of the wonderful friends that you can make if you’re friendly, but don’t get overawed by them.

Chargers, Rams & Raiders all want to move to LA

The details are here.

Could we go from zero LA NFL teams to three? In order to move, the teams would have to pay the league over $500 million (as a relocation fee), and would need the approval of 24 of the 32 NFL owners.

Why Girls Don't Fart

Who knew?

He Has Hair Now!

Look who debuted his new head of hair this morning on WGN Morning news. Urlacher is the new Wayne Rooney of America.

Just had a nice chat with @wgntv to show off my new look. Thanks to the team at @RestoreByKatona for the new hair! pic.twitter.com/mNHejP43TT

— Brian Urlacher (@BUrlacher54) January 5, 2016

Around the Publishing World (January 5)

Chicago Author Solutions (a division of Eckhartz Press) stays on top of happenings/trends in the publishing world to help out busy writers who are spending their time doing what they should be doing: writing.


1. The secrets of viral book sales
This is a great article from last year, and although it's a UK blog, there's a lot of great info here for American writers as well. Here's a short excerpt...

There is an old adage that all writers should have emblazoned on their hearts – Publicize or Perish. Seasoned authors understand the truth of these words and combined with the art of promotion they form the singular formula for success and the foundation upon which your book is most likely to go viral. To an author it is as important as E = MC2. It isn’t a mathematical formula, but a powerful aide memoire:-

P + P = BV2 P(Promotion) + P(Publicity) = BV2 (Book Virility)

2. 14 books to read if you like To Kill a Mockingbird
All writers are readers too, correct? I liked this piece about other books that are similar to one of my all-time favorites, "To Kill a Mockingbird". Courtesy of the Bookbub blog.

3. New lit editor at New City
When it's time to send out your book for reviews, there's a new name that should be in your list of contacts at New City (a local Chicago publication). Her name is Toni Nealie, and she's their new lit editor. You can find out more about her at the link.

4. Who controls your facebook feed?
This is good information really for anyone, but authors use facebook extensively to help promote their works. This article helps us better understand how that whole facebook newsfeed actually works.

5. Book Marketing Tips from Author Helen Sedwick
Frances Caballo interviews self-published author Helen Sedwick, and Helen has some great advice about garnering blog traffic, and how to conduct blog tours.

6. Author Tuneups
We started these last year at Chicago Author Solutions, and they got a great response. Click on the link to get more information. A 30-minute author tune up with our experts can help your specific project with publicity, marketing, pre-press, messaging or out-of-the-box thinking.

Ellen Signed Into Next Decade

When I read this headline ('The Ellen DeGeneres Show' Renewed Through 2020), I thought--"Geez, must be nice to get such a long contract." Doesn't 2020 sound like a million years from now?

It's actually only four years.

(Sigh)

My personal brush with Ellen story goes back to 1989. I think you'll get a kick out of it. I'm merely a bystander in this tale, but I think of it every time Ellen is in the news.

A 1937 Chicago Snowstorm

This is a home movie. Love the lady with the purse shoveling...

RIP Barry Keefe

Sad, sad news. Barry's former colleague Bernie Tafoya posted this on his facebook page today...

From Alex Keefe, Barry's son:

My Pops, Barry Keefe, long-time Chicago radio newsman, husband, father, brother, Devourer of Books, Lover of Classical Music, Buff of History and General Assignment Goofball Emeritus, died early Sunday. He was 62.

Dad had pancreatic cancer, and died at peace with his body, himself, his family and God.

To my father I owe my own unslakable curiosity, my Gift of the Gab, my love of a good story (true, true-ish or otherwise) and my voice. Milestone memories of my life: countless times sitting dead silent, stone still in a hot studio, studying the back of Dad's head while he read news live on the air; an 8-year-old me, stuffed into an empty studio at WCLR, spending hours reading fake newscasts my Dad punched up for me on his typewriter; Dad wearing a Union blue kepi, spending a muggy night with me in a canvas A-frame tent during my Civil War re-enacting years; sitting in my car before high school on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, only to hear Dad's voice break into the morning show on 101.9 to say that someone had flown a plane into one of the World Trade Center towers.

Yes, it wounds me that there won't be any more memories. But I'm grateful for the ones I do have.

A visitation will begin at 1 pm Saturday, Jan. 9 at the Williams-Kampp Funeral Home, 430 E. Roosevelt Rd. in Wheaton. There will be a short service at 3 pm.

In lieu of flowers, we're asking for donations to support my brother Aidan’s education at the Berklee College of Music. You can contact Taylor Schlichter at Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. at 847-441-1908, or visiting www.ugift529.com starting this Wednesday.

I interviewed Barry in 2008, on his very last day at WTMX. It was obviously a bittersweet day for him, and that is clearly evident in the interview. It was the only time I ever met him. I have since met many of his fellow colleagues, and to a man (and woman) they all spoke very highly of Barry.

Robert Feder's tribute to Barry was posted last night. Wonderfully written. You can read it here.

Coming This Year (2016) to Rick's Blog

I've been a full-time blogger/writer/author now for a decade, and this year on this blog I'll be digging into my archives to feature some of the stuff I've written over the past decade. My most popular columns/posts about parenting, the media, the Cubs, my old radio days, and more--one per week.

I'll post my first one tomorrow. It's an interview I did with a Chicago radio legend who is no longer with us. It's a timeless look back at his incredible radio career.

Thin Lizzy

On this day in 1986 Thin Lizzy lead singer Phil Lynott passed away at the age of 36. A life cut tragically short (by heroin and alcohol abuse), and a band (one of the great underrated rock and roll bands) silenced forever.

This song came out posthumously...and is an eery goodbye to everyone who mattered to him. He recorded the demo of this song just a few months before he died. It was finished by his bandmates several years later.

Roger Badesch

My January media column has been posted by the Illinois Entertainer. This month I feature WGN Radio's Roger Badesch. He has had a really interesting journey over the past thirty years.

You can read his story here.

Seinfeld & Obama

You've probably already seen this over the holidays, but just in case you haven't, here's the link to President Obama's stint on Jerry Seinfeld's great web series "Comedians in Cars Having Coffee". It's not a direct link to Seinfeld's site--it's to a news site that has embedded the video. I'm doing that for you. I went straight to Jerry's page, and got sucked in to watching about a dozen more episodes (including Colbert and Trevor Noah).

You probably want to get some work done today instead.

See How An Accidental E-mail Helped Save a Man's Life

And that man, was my old roommate (after college), Mark Gelinas.

Feel good story in the USA Today.

What Can Happen if You Forget To Hit The Space Bar

Ski-Jumping at Soldier Field

This really happened. Ski jumping in 1937. Looks ridiculously dangerous.

Happy New Year!

Hope everyone had a great holiday. I'm hanging up my blogging pen for the rest of 2015.

This has been my tenth full year of this blog, and the fourth year in a row there were more than a million hits.

I can't believe I've lasted so long in the saddle here, but I will be back for year 11 beginning on January 4th. Thanks for all your support and kindness over the years.

Looking forward to eventful 2016! Happy New Year!

Wacky German Christmas Joke

Here's a wacky German joke my dad used to tell every Christmas.

In German the phrase "Du kriegst nichts" means "You get nothing". To the German ear, "Christmas" sounds like "Kriegst nichts", so every year he would say: "Merry Kriegst nichts!" Get it? Always got a big laugh with the German crowd.

Happy Festivus!

Chicago Radio Ratings

From Chicagoland Radio & Media...

The newest PPM ratings were released Monday for the Chicago radio market for Nielsen Audio's "December" period (which only features two days of the actual month of December), covering the dates of 11/05/15-12/02/15. As it has been the case for every month in 2015, the big winner by far was WBBM-AM/Newsradio 780 & 105.9. With the Cubs now done for the year (and gone from the WBBM-AM airwaves), WBBM-AM/WCFS-FM falls 1.1 in the ratings from the previous month, but still has a combined 7.0 rating, easily making it #1. Although WLIT-FM will be #1 for Nielsen's "Holiday" period next month, WBBM-AM is still the Chicago radio king for 2015, winning every regular ratings period.

As the Sumner Turns

From this morning's Tom Taylor column...

The picture of a post-Sumner CBS is clearing up. Not completely – there will still be infighting in the courts and the penthouses. But it appears that #1, Les Moonves would win a promotion from CEO to Chairman at CBS, following Sumner Redstone passing. The news is reported by Bloomberg, and it would seem to guarantee some continuity at a company that’s admired on Wall Street. Bloomberg says that’s the deal made by current vice-chairman Shari Redstone, Sumner’s daughter. #2, it’s clear that Shari Redstone isn’t fading away. The Wall Street Journal has a sensational news story - Shari rejected a $1 billion offer in late 2014 to buy out her 20% stake in National Amusements, the controlling shareholder of CBS and Viacom. That would’ve meant Shari giving up her right to become chairman of CBS and Viacom. Event #3 is the ongoing legal challenge over the competency of 92-year-old Sumner Redstone. An L.A. judge ruled on Monday that Sumner needn’t undergo a medical exam and competency test. But it’s possible that Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman, Sumner’s health care guardian, may undergo a deposition.

(Photo: Sumner Redstone). Every time I read about this, I think to myself...Sumner's DAUGHTER Shari is the Vice Chairman, but the CEO Philippe Dauman is his health care guardian instead of Shari. That's so intensely weird and sad.

Star Wars

Taking the boys to Star Wars today.

I'm excited. They are giddy.

Obama & Seinfeld

President Obama will appear on Jerry Seinfeld's web show "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee".

Full details are here in the New York Times.

They simply drive around the White House grounds in Jerry's 1963 Corvette, talking about what it's like to be a president. Can you tell it's getting toward the end of Obama's presidency? Now he's just doing stuff that sounds like it would be fun. I don't blame him.

Beatles for X-mas

This is big news for Beatles fans who also like listening to streaming music. The entire Beatles catalog, which has been previously unavailable for streaming, will become available on Christmas Eve.

Slate Magazine has the details.

Meet Your Second Wife

This is a brilliant bit. Absolutely skewers men who leave their wives for a younger woman...

Barry Butler Pays Homage to Chicago

Barry Butler is the premiere photographer of Chicago. We were thrilled he allowed us to use one of his photographs as the cover for Pat Colander's Eckhartz Press book "Hugh Hefner's First Funeral and Other True Tales of Love and Death in Chicago". But that was just one picture.

This video is a montage of his Chicago photographs from this past year. It's my kind of town. Thanks Barry!

Steve Harvey Announces Wrong Miss Universe

This is about as embarrassing as it gets. The Miss Universe pageant was down to the last two contestants, Miss Colombia and Miss Philipines.

Steve Harvey, the MC of the pageant, saw that the card in his hand said "Miss Colombia" so he announced her as the winner. He was actually supposed to announce her as the Runner Up.

Whoops.

You can see it here.

FIFA Bans Blatter & Platini

It's not shocking at all that Sepp Blatter was suspended by FIFA for eight years. He makes Illinois Governors look squeaky clean. It is shocking, however, that former French superstar Michel Platini was also suspended for eight years. The Washington Post has the details.

Star Wars/Space Balls

I ran into a bunch of people yesterday who had just seen the new Star Wars (don't tell me anything yet please. I'm taking the boys this week). They were all completely excited about it.

I liked Star Wars too, but I got even more excited about this news.

A Space Balls sequel is in the works too. For real. May the Schwarz be with you.



(I know Darth Vader isn't in this one, but it's the only Star Wars picture in my archives. I use it for Dick Cheney and Rupert Murdoch)